Posted on: January 4th, 2010 Prequel to THE THING Starts Shooting In March
When it comes to remakes, ain’t nothing more sensitive to me than John Carpenter’s The Thing, one of my favorite films of all time. Which is why I was slightly relieved when we learned the remake was not that at all, but rather a prequel telling the story of the Norwegian researchers in the Antarctic who dealt (unsuccessfully?) with a shape-shifting alien force thawed out from the ice.
Not much is known about this prequel, story details are rather in the dark as of now, but Production Weekly recently tweeted that production on the film will begin this March. Filming will take place in Toronto until June.
Commercial director Matthijs Van Heijningen is directing a screenplay by Ronald D. Moore (Mission Impossible II, Battlestar Galactica) though re-written by Eric Heisserer (the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake). No casting has been announced yet.
So what do I, a staunch Thing fan with a mercilessly scrutinous eye think of all this? Well, the game changed once the film became a prequel. I think the story of the alien entity in the Antarctic is still ripe for a great film that can expand on the small, cold world Carpenter sculpted. I think two crucial factors in making this a success are the casting, the relationships of said cast, and practical effects. To this day the special effects in The Thing are a sight to behold. Without this approach, this prequel has no soul.
More on this as it pops up; if they had any balls at all they’d name this flick Who Goes There? after the short story that started it all.
One Response to “Prequel to THE THING Starts Shooting In March”
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Dalyn Says:
January 4th, 2010 at 11:45 pmI have no doubt they will go with digital rather than practical. The Thing being my favorite film, I honestly have little to no excitement for this. I rather liked only knowing the bits and pieces of the Norwegians story the way it was given to us. I would be interested to see how the film ends, seeing as how the the last few survivors just fly away in a helicopter, hunting an escaped Thing dog, only to get blown up (nice grenade throw there, buddy) and shot in the eye. You think they are really going to end the movie like that?